Waymo starts robotaxi testing in Philadelphia and NYC

Waymo kicked off two “road trips” to Philadelphia and New York City on Monday, signaling the Alphabet-owned company’s interest in expanding into Northeastern cities.

Waymo’s branded “road trips” don’t necessarily signal a commercial launch anytime soon. Waymo has announced several other road trips this year, including to Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Antonio. Typically, the trips involve sending a small fleet of human-driven vehicles equipped with Waymo’s autonomous driving system to map out the new city. Then Waymo tests the vehicles autonomously, though still with a human behind the wheel, before taking any data and learnings back to its engineers to improve the AI driver’s performance.

In some cases, these road trips have led to commercial launches. In 2023, the company made a road trip to Santa Monica, a city in Los Angeles County. The company now operates a commercial service in Los Angeles, including Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood.

For its Philadelphia trip, Waymo plans to place vehicles in the most complex parts of the city, including downtown and freeways, according to a spokesperson. She noted folks will see Waymo vehicles driving “at all hours throughout various Philadelphia neighborhoods, from North Central to Eastwick, University City, and as far east as the Delaware River.”

In NYC, Waymo will drive its cars manually in Manhattan just north of Central Park down to The Battery and parts of Downtown Brooklyn. The company will also map parts of Jersey City and Hoboken in New Jersey.

Waymo applied last month for a permit to test its AVs in New York City with a human behind the wheel. The company has not yet received approval.

This isn’t the company’s first time in the Big Apple. Waymo initially deployed a small fleet of vehicles in late 2021 to map parts of Manhattan and New Jersey. This past winter, Waymo took a road trip up to Buffalo to test self-driving in wintery conditions.

Even if Waymo gets approved to test its vehicles autonomously in NYC with a specialist behind the wheel, it’ll be a long road to commercial deployment. NYC’s AV regulations don’t currently allow operators to deploy self-driving vehicles with no human in the front seat — a law Waymo is currently advocating to change.

Waymo’s continued testing across the country is anchored by the company’s current commercial robotaxi services offered in Atlanta, Austin, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Waymo plans to launch in Miami this year and Washington D.C. in 2026.